Mewtwo???

"May, Max, you two go rest in your rooms. I'll be right back, and then we'll head out," Yuga said after listening to Haunter's report, turning around to May and Max.

"Okay, Brother Yuga, go ahead and take care of what you need to," May replied sensibly as she led Max back to their room. The ghost ship was large, with many empty rooms. May and Max had been staying in the same rooms for the past few days.

Once May and Max left, Yuga, led by Haunter, went down to the bottom of the ship's hold. There, a scruffy middle-aged man and a gloomy young man were both tied up with chains by Dhelmise.

"Who are you? Why did you capture us?" the gloomy young man asked, looking baffled as Yuga approached.

Yuga looked at him with surprise. "Weren't you the ones who broke in here first? I should be asking who you are."

The gloomy young man immediately went silent.

"I heard that the Aromatic City police are currently searching the whole city for someone," Yuga said, probing for information when the young man didn't respond.

Upon hearing this, the young man merely raised his eyebrows, but the scruffy middle-aged man, who had been silent the entire time, shrank back and began trembling.

"It seems Officer Jenny is looking for you two," Yuga said with certainty. "Why don't you tell me why she's after you?"

The young man kept his face cold and silent, while the middle-aged man began shaking even more.

Seeing this, Yuga signaled with his eyes to a nearby Mismagius and Haunter. Understanding his cue, they floated over to the two captives and began searching them.

"Get away from me! Don't touch me! Get off, get off!"

As Haunter approached the young man, he felt a chilling aura wash over him. He struggled, trying to keep Haunter at bay, but the more he resisted, the tighter the chains from Dhelmise became.

In no time, Haunter found several Poké Balls and a palm-sized mini space pouch on the young man. Mismagius, however, found nothing on the scruffy middle-aged man.

Yuga had basically figured it out by then: the young man was clearly the one in charge, while the middle-aged man was not only timid but also seemed terrified of the young man.

The Poké Balls likely contained the young man's own Pokémon. Unfortunately for him, when he trespassed near the ghost ship, he didn't have time to even pull out his Pokémon before he was subdued by Mismagius and the other Ghost-type Pokémon.

Yuga picked one of the Poké Balls at random and opened it. In a flash of red light, an Escavalier leaped out. Upon seeing its master bound on the ground, it immediately brandished its lance and used Fell Stinger, lunging at Yuga, who was closest to it.

But before the lance could even touch Yuga, Mismagius had already immobilized the entire Escavalier with Psychic. No matter how much it struggled, it was futile.

Yuga hadn't expected such a unique Pokémon from the Unova region to appear here, so he took a closer look with his Insight. The Escavalier, with its ferocious expression, was at a decent level—over 50, though not quite at the pseudo-Elite level yet.

After recalling the Escavalier back into its Poké Ball, Yuga turned his attention to the mini space pouch.

This mini space pouch was a new product recently developed by MeloTech Corporation, based on their earlier spatial backpack technology.

Though small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, the delicate little pouch held about a cubic meter of space. It wasn't large enough for big items, but it was perfect for carrying everyday essentials. Light and easy to carry, it became extremely popular as soon as it hit the market, especially with female users.

Inside the mini space pouch, Yuga found a stack of papers, three Ultra Balls, and a USB drive.

The stack of papers appeared to be some sort of manuscript, filled with numbers and formulas scribbled in an unintelligible manner. They seemed to recognize Yuga, but Yuga certainly didn't recognize them.

Yuga wasn't a genius by any means. Even in his past life, he couldn't understand anything beyond basic math or physics, let alone in the more technologically advanced world of Pokémon.

Unable to read the contents of the USB drive, Yuga decided to open the three Poké Balls one by one. Inside were an Alakazam, a Gothitelle, and a Spoink.

However, all three Pokémon were in a deep sleep, their eyes closed, showing no signs of waking up even after being released from their Poké Balls.

Waving the stack of papers in his hand, Yuga addressed the gloomy young man. "Interested in explaining what this is and what's up with those three Pokémon?"

The gloomy young man gritted his teeth and remained silent. Yuga then turned to the scruffy middle-aged man. "He's not talking. How about you?"

The scruffy man shook his head vigorously, lips tightly pressed, occasionally glancing at Yuga and then at the gloomy young man, but saying nothing.

Seeing their lack of cooperation, Yuga sighed. "Since you won't tell me willingly, I'll just figure it out myself."

With that, Yuga signaled Haunter, who floated over to the young man. A flash of purple light quickly appeared in Haunter's eyes. The young man instantly realized what was happening—it was going to use Hypnosis.

But surprisingly, the young man didn't seem alarmed. He allowed Haunter to proceed without resistance.

Clearly, the young man had something up his sleeve. Despite Haunter's Hypnosis, which should have taken effect through eye contact, the young man remained fully conscious, his mind as clear as ever.

Yuga had Haunter try the same thing on the scruffy middle-aged man, but the result was exactly the same.

Haunter's Hypnosis was one of the best on the ghost ship, yet it had failed today.

"Hmph..."

The young man let out a cold snort, clearly amused by Yuga's failed attempt.

Yuga: "Are you kidding me..."

"Haunter, Mismagius, search them again thoroughly," Yuga ordered, feeling underestimated.

The young man didn't seem the least bit worried by Yuga's words, and sure enough, Haunter and Mismagius found nothing.

Yuga rubbed his chin, frowning as he scrutinized the young man, even circling around him. Suddenly, he noticed a fingernail-sized scar near the man's neck. His eyes lit up.

He moved behind the scruffy middle-aged man and yanked down his collar. As expected, there was a similar scar in the same spot.

Seeing Yuga's actions, the young man's face immediately changed.

Feigning expertise, Yuga pulled out a small fruit knife from his pocket (in reality, it came from his system backpack) and swiftly sliced the skin near the young man's scar. With a firm squeeze, a button-sized metal object fell out.

"Ahhh!!!"

Feeling the pain from his skin being cut, the young man let out a pained scream.

Yuga picked up the button-like object, wiped off the blood, and guessed that this was what had nullified Haunter's Hypnosis.

The material of the object was quite unique. It looked metallic but was somewhat flexible, likely made from some kind of bionic material, as it wouldn't have been possible to implant something purely metallic into a person's body.

Yuga's inspiration for finding this object came from remembering the black chip inside Gillruta's body.

To prevent the young man from passing out, Yuga released Chimecho to use a Heal Pulse on him, which calmed his screams.

Without the object, Haunter's Hypnosis worked without any hindrance. It didn't take long before the gloomy young man confessed everything about himself and the scruffy middle-aged man.

First, the scruffy middle-aged man wasn't a Hoenn native—he was from Kanto. To Yuga's surprise, he was a survivor of the New Island incident.

New Island was where Mewtwo was created and had originally belonged to Team Rocket.

At Mewtwo's birth, it destroyed the laboratory on New Island, killing all the scientists who had helped create it.

The scruffy middle-aged man had once been part of the New Island lab, and his teacher was none other than Dr. Fuji, the main researcher behind the Mewtwo project.

When Mewtwo went on a rampage and destroyed the lab, the scruffy man escaped with the help of Dr. Fuji, who also instructed him to avoid being found by Team Rocket.

The scruffy man had also taken most of the experimental data on Mewtwo with him—data that was now stored on the USB drive Yuga had obtained.

Dr. Fuji had deeply regretted creating Mewtwo at the time, but he couldn't bear to see his hard-earned research go to waste, so he secretly backed up the data and gave it to the scruffy man to take with him.

Team Rocket's genetic technology was so powerful largely thanks to Dr. Fuji. Even though the destruction of the New Island lab caused much of the genetic data to be lost, Team Rocket still reaped enormous benefits from his research.

The Heaven Organization's ability to clone a Legendary Pokémon like Suicune was built on the foundation of Dr. Fuji's research.

Team Rocket still believed that the primary data from the Mewtwo experiment had been destroyed by Mewtwo. In reality, the scruffy middle-aged man had kept a backup.

This man, apart from burying himself in experiments, had no life experience to speak of. He was the classic bookworm type. The only reason he had been selected to join the New Island laboratory was thanks to being Dr. Fuji's student.

After leaving Kanto with the Mewtwo experiment data, he arrived in Aromatic City in Hoenn.

Being a lover of academic pursuits, the middle-aged man secretly began conducting experiments after settling in Aromatic City. It wasn't long before the gloomy young man took notice of him.

As for the gloomy young man, his identity wasn't simple either—he was a member of Team Plasma from the Unova region, specifically from their P2 Laboratory.

The items implanted in the bodies of both the middle-aged man and the young man that blocked Hypnosis were the products of research from Team Plasma's P2 Laboratory.

P2 Laboratory was one of Team Plasma's most important departments, and everyone in it was implanted with a device that could block Hypnosis. This was to prevent any secrets from being extracted by enemies if they were captured.

The reason the gloomy young man was in Hoenn was that he had a relative who was previously Harry's employer.

As a member of the P2 Laboratory, the young man had been developing small products over the years and giving them to his relative to sell, making a decent profit. Although the products weren't extraordinary, Harry's employer made quite a bit of money and had always obeyed the young man's commands.

As a fellow researcher, the young man was well aware of the immense value of the data in the middle-aged man's possession. If he could bring it back to Team Plasma, his status within the organization would soar. He might even stand on equal footing with his superior, Colress, the head of the P2 Laboratory.

So, the gloomy young man had secretly captured the middle-aged man, imprisoning him in his relative's home and forcing him to continue researching the Mewtwo experiment.

The reason he hadn't taken the data directly back to Unova was that he wasn't sure if the middle-aged man's data was authentic. He had decided to keep him in Hoenn until the data had been verified, only then planning to return to Unova.

However, the most crucial component needed to recreate Mewtwo was Mew's DNA, which they didn't have. Moreover, the Mewtwo experiment was extremely expensive—not something a small group of people could handle. That's when they came up with the idea of using other Psychic-type Pokémon as substitutes.

The young man's ultimate goal wasn't to recreate Mewtwo but to verify the authenticity of the experimental data.

After spending a great deal of time and money, the young man and his team captured numerous Psychic-type Pokémon for experimentation, many of whom were killed in the process.

In the end, they discovered that pure Psychic-types were the most compatible with the experiments, with Alakazam showing the highest affinity.

That's why Harry was given the task of finding an Abra.

Psychic-type Pokémon are rare to begin with, and Alakazam is even rarer, making it hard to find another one. This was why Harry's employer had been so persistent in trying to buy that particular Abra.

But they hadn't expected that this mission would lead them to such disaster.

To verify the young man's story, Yuga had Haunter use Hypnosis on the middle-aged man, and their accounts matched almost perfectly.

The young man had been anything but kind to the middle-aged man, imprisoning him and frequently subjecting him to physical abuse. This explained why the middle-aged man was so fearful of him.

After hearing their confessions, Yuga was troubled, unsure how to deal with the manuscript and USB drive in his hands.

Yuga had no intention of creating another Mewtwo. Not only could he not understand any of the experimental data, but the experiment itself was unethical. Otherwise, Mewtwo wouldn't have asked those soul-searching questions: "Who am I? Where did I come from? What is my purpose?" before ultimately rebelling against Team Rocket.

Pursuing power at the cost of losing one's essence makes that power meaningless. Yuga had no desire to meddle with artificially created life.

Handing the data over to the League wasn't a great option either. Although the League represented justice, who could guarantee that none of its members harbored ill intentions?

After thinking it over for a while, Yuga decided to store the manuscript and USB drive in his system's backpack for now.

Speaking of Team Plasma's P2 Laboratory, Yuga recalled that the Genesects had been revived and fitted with cannons there—cannons that weren't originally part of their bodies.

The capabilities of P2 Laboratory were undeniable. If the young man managed to bring the Mewtwo data back, Team Plasma might very well be able to recreate another Mewtwo.

Yuga had wanted to pry more information about Team Plasma out of the young man, but he didn't get much.

Team Plasma's internal discipline was surprisingly strict. As an ordinary researcher in the P2 Laboratory, the young man was only allowed access to a portion of the lab's information. He was prohibited from knowing anything beyond that.

Having gathered enough information, Yuga had Haunter escort the two men into the depths of the ship's hold for safekeeping.

Since the matter involved the Mewtwo experiment, he decided to not handing them over to Officer Jenny in Aromatic City. Instead, he planned to return to Verdanturf Town and have Nana erase part of their memories first.